Delta Offers To Help Speed Up Security At MSP Airport

The airline wants to reduce wait times before peak summer travel.

Delta Air Lines might soon contribute personnel to support security at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport ahead of the busy summer travel season.

The Star Tribune reports that MSP’s largest airline wants to help the short-staffed Transportation Security Administration reduce queue times by performing security tasks that don’t require badged agents.

Wait times at the airport exploded to sometimes over an hour earlier this year after security checkpoints were reduced down to two at Terminal 1. That change was supposed to make security more efficient, but the effort appears to have backfired.

“The customers don’t distinguish security when coming through the airport between Delta and TSA,” CEO Ed Bastian said during a media event. “Security is something that, in our opinion, is a joint responsibility of both TSA and the airline, and we will do our share to help.”

Patrick Hogan, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission that runs MSP, applauded Delta’s offer, saying that airport officials, airlines and the TSA needed to work together with the resources they have.

Other airports have experienced similar issues, including Delta’s main hub in Atlanta. That’s in part due to an increase in air travel in recent years.

“Long term,” Hogan told the Star Tribune, “the TSA must hire more screeners to handle the increase in travelers and carry-on bags.”

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